My car has a long history of overheating. The first time it happened was on the interstate and I didn't even notice until it was WAY hot so I pulled over and my car immediately shut down. That day we tried a few things, we bought a flush kit and used the entire thing, I don't remember much (someone else was taking care of it) but we had a hose running in it for a loooong time, and the water never really ever came out clear. (Though way cleaner than first started) Anywho, managed to make our way home in the car even though it was still wanting to over heat. (Kept hte heat in the car running, and the needle stayed down)

My grandpa assumed it was the thermostat, so he replaced this. Around town my car was still running fine, though I was losing fluid and having to refill every now and then.

Next time I got on the interstate, it overheated again. Finally took it to a place and replaced the entire radiator because there was a crack. Problem solved, right? Not quite.

Car did fine on the interstate that first time, did fine around town, next time on interstate? Over heat!

How frustrating. So my dad thinks maybe its the thermostat again, perhaps it was damaged from miscellaneous overheatings. Is it possible for the thermostat to function normally around town, in traffic, etc, but then not want to function correctly at high speeds?

(The fan is in good working condition, so thats out)

What about the water pump? Could something be wrong with that? As far as I know, I'm not leaking or really losing much fluid. (Before the radiator replacement, I would have to refill most of it anytime I heated up, and half of it anytime I went anywhere) (After the radiator replacement, I do have to refill it but not nearly as much, and only when my car overheats. Most of the fluid is being retained)

From your description of the rust colored coolant that was coming out, it sounds like someone ran water instead of coolant and now it's just all caked up with rust. To make matters worse, you overheated it so bad that you likely have a blown head gasket now. You don't have a whole lot of options that don't involve completely tearing down the engine now. That rust is going to come out one layer at a time and then get completely rusty again as you have found out already.

You can't run water in these cooling systems.

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>>I'm not leaking or really losing much fluid. After the radiator replacement, I do have to refill it but not nearly as much<< Any coolant loss is unacceptable. As Hammer suggested, have the system checked for head gasket leakage. A pressure test will confirm or rule out an external leak. The head gasket can be checked chemically, or with an exhaust analyzer. Loren SW Washington